Combusken

Access to the fantastic ability Speed Boost gives Combusken a solid niche in PU, allowing it to reliably clean opposing teams late-game and, in combination with Swords Dance, break through Pokemon such as Carbink that serve as common checks to other offensive Fire-types like Simisear and Turtonator. Its Speed boosts also allow it to punish teams reliant on traditional revenge killers such as Choice Scarf Primeape and Alolan Sandslash to deal with other Fire-types like Simisear for sacrificing Pokemon to bring their revenge killer in safely. Combusken can run both physical and special sets that can break through each other's checks such as Gurdurr for the former and Lanturn for the latter. A near-unresisted STAB combination also makes it a reliable late-game cleaner, provided its main counter in Jellicent is removed. However, Combusken faces fierce competition as an offensive Fire-type from Simisear, as the latter's greater base Speed and Special Attack allow it to more immediately threaten opposing teams, and, importantly, its access to Grass Knot allows it to reliably break through one of Combusken's hardest counters in Jellicent. Furthermore, Combusken is held back by its low Speed, which leaves it outsped by common Choice Scarf users such as Primeape and Dodrio even after two Speed boosts. This fact coupled with Combusken's poor bulk also forces it to often use Protect first against faster Pokemon that can cripple or OHKO it such as Alolan Sandslash and Aurorus, potentially offering free switches to checks such as Lanturn and Eelektross. It also limits Combusken's ability to switch into resisted attacks or aggressively double switch in, which leaves it with limited setup opportunities compared to bulkier setup sweepers such as Gurdurr and Carracosta that offer some defensive utility and leaves it more vulnerable to being revenge killed by priority users such as Hitmonchan, Lycanroc, and Gurdurr.